What has research revealed concerning the rate of depression among the elderly?

Answer:

Although people mistakenly identify depression with the elderly, data from the NCS-R suggest that mood disorders actually are more frequent among young and middle-aged adults. The rates of both major depression and bipolar mood disorder are lowest among people over age 60. Several explanations have been offered for this pattern. It is possible that this finding is due to how the research was conducted, not actual differences in the rate of depression across age groups. One interpretation is that the elderly have greater difficulty remembering episodes of depression. In addition, mood disorders are associated with increased mortality; thus, some severely depressed people might not have survived into old age. However, the pattern observed in the NCS-R has been observed in several studies, and most investigators believe the effect (lower rates of depression among the elderly) is genuine.